Australia

Greetings from down under!  

Australia is a place that neither of us thought that it would take us this long to get to. My 31 years of not making it to Australia is more inexcusable since I have family there and those family members have come to California many times. We even started planning a trip in 2010, but it didn't work out so it was really nice to finally arrive.

Our journey to Australia didn't start so well, as we were told that we would have to pay $130 each to check one bag on Virgin Australia. It's the first time that we've had to pay anything to check any of our luggage and $260 for two bags seemed pretty crazy.  So Virgin Australia has managed to beat out American as our least favorite airline ever, no small feat.

The first stop on our Australia tour was in Canberra to see my Aunt Debbie. We didn't quite know what to expect in Canberra since a couple of Australians that we'd met earlier on the trip hadn't had great things to say. Those people are crazy. Canberra is awesome.

We started our trip by going up to the top of Black Mountain Tower, which gave great views of the city. Then Debbie and Danny took us for fish and chips right on the lake, which is in the center of town (felt kind of like being at Lake Chalet on Lake Merritt) and went for a beautiful sunset walk after dinner.

View of Canberra from Black Mountain Tower

Eating Fish 'N Chips on the lake

Sunset over the lake

The next day we took a drive about 30 minutes outside the city to some friends of Debbie that have a beautiful house out on the river. We went swimming in the river, had an amazing lunch straight from the garden, and picked a bunch of fruit from their many fruit trees. After we got back into Canberra, we went for a bike ride around the lake with Danny as our tour guide. It was a beautiful ride, but the highlight was seeing our first mob of kangaroos. Watching a kangaroo jump for the first time was one of the cooler things that we've ever seen. We had a great family dinner with my cousin Jake and his daughter Chloe and then packed up to head to the mountains the next day.

Our next destination was in the mountains at Mount Kosciuszko, which is the tallest mountain in Australia. We've been to the top of many mountains, but this was our first time on the top of the highest point in a continent (commonly referred to as the Seven Summits). Mount Kosciusko is also significantly lower and a much easier climb than any of the other Seven Summits so it made for a good starting point. The climb up Kosciuszko was really cool and we did a long circuitous route back down that took us through an old gum tree forest and back along the river. We spent the night at the base of the mountain in Thredbo, which is a ski resort town that was kind of like a small scale version of Squaw Valley.

Hiking to the top of Mt. Kosciuszko

At the top

View from the trail up

Happy Birthday to our favorite 90 year old from the top of the highest peak in Australia 

Gum tree forest 

Thredbo River

In the morning we headed out to Tuross Head, which is on the coast and where Auntie Debbie has a vacation house.  The coast was beautiful, with big sandy beaches and beautiful rocky coastline. We went to the beach and found a tidal whirl pool (like swirly swirly on the Klamath for those of you that are familiar) and swam around for a while.  We did a great walk along the coast, where we had our first Australian snake encounter, as we almost stepped on a Red Bellied Black on the grassy trail. It was at least six feat long and nearly gave Gina a heart attack since she was conveniently walking in front at the time. She saw it and ran forward, while I saw it and jumped back, leaving us on opposite sides of the trail separated by a massive (and poisonous) snake. We talked about just going our separate ways and meeting back up in Argentina, before I ever so slowly and then very rapidly made my way past the snake.

Playing in the tidal Swirly Swirly 

Walking along the coast to Bengie Bengie Point

The Red Bellied Black snake. We did not want to get close enough to get a clear picture but the black parts in the grass are it.

We spent the last two days in Canberra, doing a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport, where most of the Australian Olympians train. We also got to do some really neat games and simulations that the athletes use to train. We went to the Australian War Museum, which gave really interesting perspectives on WWI and WWII. On our last evening we did a mountain bike ride around Mount Ainsley and saw tons of kangaroos. Some of them would even hop along side of us while we were riding. We capped everything off by hiking up to the top of Mount Ainsley and watching a fireworks display over the lake in Canberra. 

Auntie Debbie testing her reaction time at the Australian Institute of Sport

Bryce showing off his Skeleton skills

Australian War Museum

Kangaroos along the path

"Who are you?!"

Fireworks from Mt Ainsley

Overall, a really great time in Canberra and the surrounding area and it was really nice to get to spend so much time with my Aunt who I have never really seen all that much on account of her living in Australia. Definitely should have visited sooner and we are hoping to return before too long.

In the morning we woke up early to catch our flight out to Alice Springs. Alice Springs is in the center of Australia and is the only city for hundreds of miles in any direction. We spent the day walking around Alice Springs and had a relaxing evening at our backpackers hostel, which was mostly Germans. Everywhere we've been in Australia and New Zealand has been filled with Germans. We're starting to wonder if there is actually anybody left in Germany. There are so many Germans here that some of the street signs are in English and German to make sure that they links farhen (keep left). 

The river in Alice Springs. I would say it was a bit dry.

Sunset over Alice Springs from ANZAC Hill

ANZAC memorial at the top of the hill

We picked up our new camper van, which we've named Manuel (pronounced with a dramatic Mexican soap opera style accent). It is much larger than the one that we had in New Zealand and even has a sink and a microwave. It is a bit of a beast to drive with its size and extremely uncooperative stick. Since Gina is an automatic only driver, I've been doing the driving, while she is on full time navigator duties which is pretty straight forward since there is only one road that goes east west and one that goes north south.

Very flat road the entire way

Yes, this oversize vehicle is taking up the entire highway. Cars coming the other way had to pull over for it.

View of Mt. Connor from the road to Uluru

From Alice Springs we drove out to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We knew the Outback was going to be hot so we tried to hit it as late as we possibly could and we're prepared for the average March temperatures of around 90 degrees. However our visit managed to coincide with a heat wave that brought four straight days of 105+. Each day we would wake up super early, hike from sunrise until 10 or 11 AM and then go spend the rest of the day sitting in the swimming pool of the campground with half the population of Germany. Our van, for all the luxuries that it does have, lacks air conditioning in the cabin. After the first night we went to the store and bought a giant fan, which helped a little but mostly just blew really hot air at us.

Best $20 ever spent!

Trying to cool off with an ice cold beer in Manuel

We did do some great hiking with a walk around the Uluru (Ayers Rock) base and the Valley of the Winds trail that winds through the Olgas. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular with the way the light hits the red rock. Another highlight was a star talk that we went to where we got to look at several stars, nebulas and Jupiter through high powered telescopes.

Walking around the base of Uluru. The flies were constantly swarming us which made it hard to stand still for photos.

I think there are at least twenty flies on my head (thanks to Erica for the mosquito/fly net originally intended for use on our Alaskan honeymoon)

Watering hole at Uluru (only natural water in the entire park)

Sunset at Uluru

Happy St. Patricks's Day. Celebrating it with a beer and an awesome view

Valley of the Winds walk in Kata Tjuta (the Olgas)

Kata Tjuta

After Uluru we went to Kings Canyon and did a nice hike around the canyon rim, which reminded us a lot of Bryce Canyon. From Kings Canyon we drove back through Alice Springs and then out into the West MacDonnell mountain range.

Sunset on Kings Canyon

Hiking along the rim trail

View into the canyon

We spent a few days out in the Western MacDonells, exploring more red rock canyons and our favorite hike out there was the walk we did through Ormiston Gorge. We had another interesting nature encounter while hiking along a trail near Ellery Creek when Gina walked into a giant spider web. The web pretty much engulfed her and she was not too pleased by it. She decided that was a pretty good spot to turn around (good call) and I decided to go on just a bit further. I decided to jog so that I could get up to a lookout quicker when all of a sudden I bounced backwards like I'd been hit by a forcefield. In front of me was the biggest, thickest spider web I had ever seen as well as the biggest, ugliest spider. I was less than half a mile from the lookout, but I probably would have needed a machete or a flame thrower to get through.

Ellery Creek hole

Ormiston Gorge 

Hiking on the pound trail in Ormiston Gorge 

The ugliest spider ever!

Fortunately our nature experience wasn't limited to giant snakes and creepy spiders. We saw kangaroos, wallabes, a couple of dingos, a variety of lizards and tons of really cool and colorful birds.

Bird along the "river" in Alice Springs

Lizard trying to blend in at Kings Canyon

From the Outback we are headed to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, the rain forest up in Daintree and then spending a few days in Sydney before we fly to Chile on April 1.

Cheers!

B and G

New Zealand Part Three

Our second half of the South Island journey was just as pretty and went just as well as our first. We're getting more and more used to life in New Zealand. We're using words/ phrases like cheers, mate and sweet as! We're making sure to get things done before 5pm since absolutely no one in New Zealand will work past then and we're even driving mostly on the left side of the road.

After leaving Wanaka we had a beautiful drive along Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and spent the night in Cameron Flat.  Cameron Flat was a great campsite, except for the large sand fly population. Usually Gina gets it much worse when it comes to insect bites, but I think I got 16 bites on one foot at Cameron Flat. We met a really cool couple, Matt and Tonya, who are from Colorado and are traveling around New Zealand for three months. If you want to read more awesome travel blogging, they're documenting their trip at takestwototravel.com. 

Campsite at Cameron Flat, Gina was busy killing sandflies

We left Cameron Flat and drove to Fox Glacier, where we did a hike to the beginning of the glacier and then drove a few miles up the road to Franz Josef Glacier and explored around there. We booked a helicopter ride (the only way you can actually get onto the glacier) and glacier hike for the next day. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate the next day and we were told at the helicopter place that all the flights that day had been cancelled.

Fox Glacier

Waterfalls on the walk to Franz Josef Gacier

Franz Josef

With the bad weather we decided that we would dedicate that day to learning more about New Zealand culture so we decided to head to a bar to drink some local beers for the rest of the day and watch the cricket World Cup, where New Zealand was playing Australia. As luck would have it, we also ran into Tonya and Matt whose helicopter trip had also been cancelled so we all settled in for a rainy afternoon of beer and cricket.

From watching the game and some furious googling we figured out most of the rules and when we should cheer. The game actually went really quick by cricket standards, but after three hours it was only half way over.  We couldn't quite afford the amount of beer that we would have needed to make the rest of the match entertaining enough to stick around. New Zealand ended up winning by one run when Sir James Edmund Cook hit a wicked googeley off of Australian bowler Dingo McWallabey, or something like that. We actually enjoyed it quite a big and plan to watch more in Australia, but haven't decided if we'll change our allegiance based on the country we're in.

In addition to the sand flies, the west coast had mosquitos that were the size of small birds. Gina was even more maniacal about killing the mosquitos than she had been about the sand flies. The inside of our van looked like a crime scene. I don't even think Dexter would have been able to figure out where all the blood had come from.

West Coast

The following day we had a beautiful drive up the west coast, slowly working our way north while taking in all the views. We made it up to Motueka and Abel Tasman National Park where we rented a kayak and did a two day paddling/camping trip along the coast. 

Pancake Rocks at Punaikai

We got to paddle about 12 miles along the coast and explore some really cool islands that were inhabited by fur seals with lots of pups. The only downside of the paddle was that we were paddling into a headwind of 15 knots. We still haven't figured what a knot is, but we do know that 15 of them is pretty strong and created some big waves.

Paddling along the coast

Lunch break at Anchorage Bay

Beautiful lunch spot (good break after paddling hard through the wind)

Paddling in the lagoon near camp

Split Apple Rock (apparently the most photographed rock in NZ) 

We had a really sweet campsite at Bark Bay right above the beach. It was also one of the only places we've been where you could have a campfire, which was really nice.  We had a big fire with a very international crowd with people from Canada, Holland, France, Germany and Australia.  We really liked kayak camping because it was a fun way to get to explore and it's a little easier to bring more stuff (particularly wine and beer). We are definitely thinking of investing in a kayak when we get home.

View from Bark Bay campsite

Cooking breakfast over the open flame

After day two of the kayak trip we drove across to the east coast where we found another nice campsite right on Marfells Beach and drove down the east coast towards Kaikoura. We stopped along a few beaches on the way that had tons of seals on them. The big ones just kind of laid around as seals are prone to do, but there were a lot of pups that were very energetic and would chase each other around in the tide pools.

Seals!

Seal pups playing while the adults slept

Cuddling with a rock

Hiking on the bluffs above Kaikoura

When we got to Kaikoura we did a walk around the peninsula, saw more seals and got some great views from the bluffs. It was pretty, but having just been to Abel Tasman, it didn't quite compare. After making our way a little further south and staying in Amberley Beach we headed up towards Aurhtur's Pass.

The seals were everywhere in Kaikoura

Too much fun last night and couldn't make it all the way to the water 

We stopped and walked around Castle Hill, a bunch of large rock formations and then drove up to a place called Cave Stream. Cave Stream was one of the coolest things we've done so far. It is also very accurately named as there is a stream that flows for about half a mile through a limestone cave. You hike upstream through the cave about waist deep in water, with headlamps since it is completely dark inside. The cave is really smooth from being carved out by the water and there are some spots where you have to scramble up some small waterfalls.  So much fun!

Castle Hill

View from Castle Hill

Exploring around Castle Hill

Entering Cave Stream

We go up there?!

Picture doesn't do it justice but it was pitch black in the cave

We made it!

Crawling out of the exit

We camped at Lake Pearson for the night while a huge storm rolled in. Lots of rain and wind. We waited it out in the van playing cards the next morning and giving thanks that we were not chaperones on the middle school camping trip that was a couple campsites down from us. When we got a brief break in the weather we drove  the rest of the way up to Arthur's Pass. The drive was beautiful as the heavy rain had created waterfalls everywhere, many of which were coming off the mountain and actually landing on the road (equally scary and fun). There were also some pretty big rock slides which were all scary and no fun.

Campsite at Pearson Lake

Pearson Lake

By the time we reached the pass it was raining pretty hard and a severe weather warning had been issued. We decided to do a very quick hike to Punch Bowl Falls, which turned into a jog and then an all out sprint as the rain kept falling harder. The falls was pretty spectacular at flood levels. After sprinting back to the car we decided we should probably get down off the mountain before the raining and flooding got worse. We were a little disappointed we didn't get to explore Arthur's Pass area as much as we would have liked, but can't complain as overall we got excellent weather for our trip.

Punch Bowl Falls after Stormagedon

When the flood starts coming down the stairs it is time to get off the mountain

We stayed in Springfield for the night and headed to the airport in morning with a stop at the famous Sheffield Pie Shop, which was amazing. We returned our van, a sad moment (somehow Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing"came on as we were returning the van, which was a perfectly sad song for the mood of returning our van and ending our trip, but I swear my eyes were just watering from my allergies) and headed back to Auckland. We spent one last night in Auckland with Becca, got some great beer and had a wonderful last meal in New Zealand.

So good!

Overall, a really great month in New Zealand as we got to do everything that was at the top of our list. Also, definitely a place that is high up on our list of places that we'll probably visit again someday. 

Now on to Australia!

B and G